College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Library

Established in 1791, the Library of the College of Physicians was Philadelphia’s central medical library for over 150 years, serving medical schools, hospitals, physicians and other health professionals. Today, it is an independent research library devoted to the history of medicine and serves hundreds of scholars, health professionals, students and popular writers each year.

In addition to its historical research resources, over the last half century the library has been involved in several medical library consortiums, providing both resources and administrative support to these projects. Some of these include: Mid Eastern Medical Regional Library Service (MERMLS), Medical Document Service (MDS), Health Science Library Consortium (HSLC), and Consumer Health Information Network (CHINET). These organizations aim to spread knowledge for the benefit of medical research and public health. The Library has also played a key role in providing material for exhibitions and publications by the College of Physicians. Rare books from the library stacks are regularly put on display for visitors, and images from their collections are reproduced for publications. The Library has kept consistent records of its functions from the 1960s until the early 2000s. These records not only include user requests, correspondence, and grant applications, but also the papers of several library directors throughout this period. In the Library Collection are the papers of the following directors: Anthony Aguirre, Ellen Gartrell, Charles Greifenstein, Lisabeth M. Holloway, Thomas A. Horrocks, Andrea Kenyon, Edward Morman, Christine Ruggere, and Marjorie Smink.

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